NORTHRIDGE : Cal State Prepares for Layoffs, Class Cancellations

Cal State Northridge has laid plans to dismiss more than 500 temporary faculty members and cancel nearly 900 classes in anticipation of massive budget cuts projected for the coming academic year, university officials said this week.

“This is a very serious budget crisis,” President James W. Cleary said. “The worst I’ve seen in my 23 years in office. . . . If it gets worse than this we’re out of business. It’s just that bad.”

Under the plan being completed, 532 of the university’s 556 part-time instructors would be laid off, and 176 management and staff employees would lose their jobs, Cleary said.

The layoffs and cancellations are part of a plan to cut the budget of each campus of the California State University system by 8%, but the measures have not been finalized because of the changing nature of the state budget situation, said CSUN spokeswoman Mindy Berman.

The 532 instructors targeted for layoffs are classified as temporary employees but hold one- or two-year contracts that are normally renewed, Berman said. The instructors work as part-time or full-time lecturers.